York County and its county seat were named for York County,
Pennsylvania. The county was first established in 1785 as part of Camden
District. From 1791 to 1800 it was part of Pinckney District, and it became a
separate district when Pinckney was dissolved in 1800. Part of the county
went to form Cherokee County in 1897. When European settlers arrived, this
part of the state was inhabited by the Catawba Indians. The Catawbas signed a
treaty with the English in 1763, relinquishing their rights to much of their
land. This treaty opened up the area to Scotch-Irish settlers moving down
from Pennsylvania and up from the lowcountry. The Catawba Nation is now the
only federally-recognized Indian tribe in the state. Two battles were fought
in this area during the Revolutionary War, Williamson's Plantation (July 12,
1780) and Kings Mountain (October 7, 1780); the latter battle was a major
victory for the Americans. Small-scale cotton farming was prevalent in the
county in the nineteenth century, but textile mills became important in the
twentieth century, contributing to the growth of the county's largest city,
Rock Hill.